Back story is that my dear wife got me a Walthers’ Coal Mine facility because she thought I’d like it on my layout. Thing is, I don’t really have plans for coal mine but do want a rock crushing facility to pair with a cement plant on the other end of my layout. So, I’d like to convert my coal mine into the rock crushing plant - even to the point that I might adopt the story that a defunct coal mine was bought on the cheap by a company needing to crush rock from a nearby quarry.
My question is, what components would I need added to the coal mine buildings to create a rock crushing plant, and what parts of the coal mine kit could (should) I do away with? I could even incorporate some of the extra coal mine structures into my cement plant on the other side of town.
I know I can do the research on my own, and will, but thought I’d ask here as well for some ideas from you creative types.
Honestly The Glacier Gravel Company kit is similar in concept so if it were me I’d simply change the signage and imply the rock crushing and washing operations as well as the loading operations are inside the building. If you have the quarry area on your layout you can kitbash a longer conveyor to include a truck dump so heavy duty mining dump trucks and wheel loaders can dump rock to be processed there. On the other hand if space is limited you can simply use the kit’s conveyor as is and have it go into a back drop or low relief hillside since that is how the kit was intended to be used.
Thanks for the feedback. Space is not too big of an issue - it can fill an area about 18” by 12”. Not huge but should be adequate for a decent sized facility as well as some larger rock piles. Also, I can have as many as three spurs running into the area.
I do think adding an exterior crusher, a shaker, and possibly one or two uncovered conveyor belts would make the diorama more interesting. I have several modeling buddies who have gotten into 3D printing big time so if files can be found for making those, that might be a good way to proceed on those.
Any other suggestions for specific components which would help make the facility identifiable as a rock crushing business (maybe not to someone who actually worked in such an industry, but to the average visitor to my layout, and more importantly, to me)?
Thanks,
Dan
Definitely the rock piles you mentioned could definitely go a long way as well as things like dump trucks and wheel loaders carrying loads of rock to the conveyors or cleaning up spills around the loader. I’m not an expert on quarries or open pit mines but I’m pretty sure a lot of the principals and equipment used are very similar to each other.
Another detail would be the cars hauling out the loads. Instead of traditional coal hoppers a better idea would be either ballast hoppers in which case you also get an MOW movement for your railroad or aggregate hoppers like the 40 foot Ortner ones or the 100 ton 2 bay open hoppers.
Traditional coal hoppers can also be used but stone tends to be denser than coal so coal hoppers hauling stone reach their capacity before the load reaches the top of the car. As a result, a coal hopper hauling a load of stone may only look about halfway or three quarters full, but it really is hauling it’s total capacity.
Thanks Max. I’ll go back and try to do a search and see what it says about various components.
There are a few decent kits out there and I could go that route but doing that would defeat my goal (or mission) of using as much of the coal mine kit my wife gave me while still creating a somewhat prototypical rock crushing facility.
As I mentioned earlier, I found a file for a 3D printed crusher in N scale but the creator says it would be easy to upgrade it to HO - or close enough. Walthers also has a set (3) of conveyor belts that I ordered to use on site, with maybe one going to my cement plant. I’m more than capable of kitbashing or scratch building additional components - as long as I know what they might be.
Zug - great points about the dust, dirt, and grime. A site like that would be a pretty gritty place. Warning and safety signs (“X number of accident free days”), would be a great touch.
Some 50’s era dump trucks and a front loader or two are also in the plans.